


the most fragile people

by pandabrite



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Episode: e060-066 The Stolen Century Parts 1-7, Gen, One Shot, cheering up taako time, i was in a real low place when i wrote this so i hope it's awright, i'll catch up, i'm super behind but it's chill
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-15
Updated: 2017-11-15
Packaged: 2019-02-02 22:14:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12735366
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pandabrite/pseuds/pandabrite
Summary: lup and lucretia come up with a plan to try and help taako, who is being slowly drug into apathy by their never-ending mission. taako does some magic. the gang cooks a wonderfully horrible meal. lucretia learns what lies beneath taako's facade.





	the most fragile people

**Author's Note:**

> day 12 of taz nanowrimo. two days late. but it's cool. the 12th's prompt was write about something fragile or delicate. i'm kinda going through some irl nonsense right now, but i think it turned out how i envisioned it. this is actually fleshing out a late night story session me and my husband (@nickleerie on tumblr) had a long while ago. the prompt list is from tumblr user lucretia-the-director and i hope you enjoy~

Lup had her arms draped over the railing of the bow of the Starblaster… she was staring off into the horizon, at nothing in particular, with a listless expression. Her heart was weighed down with many thoughts, as were all of them, really, but in this particular instance it wasn’t about her _own feelings_ , but… someone else’s.

“... Everything okay?” 

A gentle voice from behind her roused her from deep thought. Lup turned from the banister, meeting gazes with a soft eyed Lucretia, who regarded her with concern written all over her features… it wasn’t like Lup of all people to be mulling in such an openly pessimistic way like this…

“Oh, hey-- Uh, well... “ Lup glanced away, pursing her lips, and she seemed to be wrestling with her answer… there was no reason to not be honest, especially with Lucretia. She could trust all of the members of their team, she knew, but… this was a bit more personal an issue.

Finally, Lup turned to face her more directly, “Actually… it’s really not, um…” She wrung her hands together a bit, “It’s… I’m worried about…”

“Taako..?” Lucretia offered in Lup’s hesitation, approaching her and taking a position beside her, back against the railing.

Lup seemed… stunned, “Y-yeah. You got it.” After a moment of consideration, Lup turned back toward the banister, folding her arms on it, “I guess it’s not really a secret, huh?” She was smiling, but it was strained.

Lucretia looked down briefly, before shaking her head, “No… Not for any of us, I don’t think…” She hadn’t meant to put Lup off, but… well, it _was_ incredibly obvious. 

Their mission had taken its toll on all of them, in varying degrees, but for Taako it seemed to be something less dramatically obvious, but much more insidious. A more subtle but concerning effect seemed to burden him, like poison, weighing him down, causing him to be reclusive, quiet… apathetic… And very unlike Taako. He was, of course, _still_ Taako, but… He seemed to show no joy in, well, anything. He went through the bare minimum in motions of their mission, and that was about the extent of his efforts.

When, during the last cycle, the one member of the team who was always ‘good out here’ died first in a flippant disregard to what was happening, the wellbeing of the team and himself, that… was when it became truly concerning. For all of them, but Lup especially… Lup who suddenly couldn’t pry anything out of her brother, the one person who usually shared _everything_ with her. 

They had no secrets. Not normally...

But Taako was tight lipped and insistent that everything was ‘all good.’ 

Lup fucking knew better, but she couldn’t get him to share, to confide in her, to talk about the strains and trouble of their mission. And, God, she _knew_ he was full of it! But what could she do..?

Lup and Lucretia were quiet for a long time, Lucretia with her back against the rail, chewing her lip and thinking and… Lup, who was practically hanging off the bow, looking defeated and exhausted.

Finally, Lucretia broke the veil of silence, “I… would like to do something for him, if we can.” She seemed to weigh her words, and it was obvious she was putting a lot of deliberate thought into them.

Lup perked her head, eyeing her from the side, “Yeah? Did you have something in mind?” 

“Well,” Lucretia pressed her fingertips together, “I hadn’t quite gotten that far… But, something to try and cheer him up certainly doesn’t seem like a bad idea, don’t you think?”

Lup remained mum for a bit, before pushing herself off of the rail to face Lucretia more fully, “I- yeah, I think it’s worth a shot. Worst thing that could happen is… well, nothing changes? It’s gotta be something super _good_ , though.”

“What do you think Taako would love to do?” Lucretia already knew what Taako liked, but… they would have to come up with something truly special. 

Lup swayed back and forth on her heels, drumming her fingers on her chin, “Well, I mean… he loves cooking, obviously, but even that’s kind of not been… he hasn’t really had his heart in that lately, either…” 

“Well, maybe that’s not the best we can do then…” Lucretia grew quiet, but only briefly, before her eyes lit up, “why don’t we… well, why don’t we cook something for him?”

“... huh. I mean, like the two of us or..?”

“No, _all_ of us… Even those of us who aren’t the _best_ in the kitchen. If we can round everyone up to cook a… dare I say… a _travesty_ of a meal--”

“Oh. My. God.” Lup clapped her hands on Lucretia’s shoulders, eyes alight with sudden inspiration, “so like the shittiest buffet probably ever _and_ an impromptu roast session!”

“Well, I know how you two enjoy dunking on everything that can conceivably be dunked.”

Lup’s bright smile suddenly held a hint of mischievousness, but her posture remained delighted as she grabbed Lucretia’s hands, “You-- you’re really onto something here. We gotta keep him from finding out, I-- I can distract him, I think, for a while, if you want to try and get everyone on board with this?”

Lup’s hands were squeezed genially, and Lucretia responded to her exuberance with a confident smile, “Absolutely.”

“Awrighttttttt~~” Lup kept her hold on Lucretia’s hands and pulled her in a joyous circle, “Yeah-- Yeah! Let’s do it! I am _so_ into this!”

Lucretia laughed, fumbling back away from Lup a bit after her hands were released, “Haha- I’ll go and round everyone up and bump heads… Um-- you’ll want to cook something too, I suppose?”

“Of course,” Lup placed her hands on her hips, “but, I guess I’ll need to go last… he’ll know we’re sucking eggs on purpose if I give him some garbage on a plate first.”

“Right, right… But I don’t know if _some_ of us will be doing it on purpose,” Lucretia laughed into the back of her hand, and as she did, she turned to head inside, “trust me. I’ll get it all worked out. I’ll come and give you a signal and we can trade out on Taako distraction duties.”

“Sure thing,” Lup felt excited enough to jump out of her skin-- and she prayed, God, she prayed that this would do something for her brother. To rescue him from this strange darkness that was poisoning his susceptible heart… Or at least provide some relief.

Taako was susceptible to negative energy. In the past, Lup had always been able to guide him out of the miasma, out of lethargy and apathy, but this time… the gravity of what they were doing, what they were all going through, had cast upon him a numbness that threatened to sweep him away…

And she had to be his anchor.

...

It wasn’t long before Lup found Taako in his quarters… and, well, they were long past knocking before entering, so she simply strode inside, “Taako~”

Her brother was lounging on his bed, and before she entered, he’d been sort of staring at… well, nothing in particular on the wall, “Yo.” He didn't look up.

“Hey, come out with me? I wanna _really_ fuck some shit up here in a minute.”

Taako seemed to only vaguely consider this, though, “I--”

Nope, instantly she could tell that was a tone of refusal about to come out of his mouth and she couldn’t have that-- so Lup took a step forward and folded her hands beneath her chin in a pleading manner, “Puh- _leaaaaase_ ~?”

Taako huffed, “At least let me talk.”

“I knew what you were gonna say!”

Cue Taako dramatically slumping back onto his pillows and crossing an arm over his eyes.

“Taaaaaaaaaaako.” 

“Lu- oof- hey- !” Before he could speak, Lup had thrown herself forward and fucking bellyflopped right onto him.

“Taaaaaaaaako--”

Taako’s hand was pushing her head, and he squirmed beneath her, though she refused to let him budge, arms wrapped around his neck, and as they struggled, she tried to lick the hand he was shoving against her cheek.

“ _Gross--_ God-- Okay-- I- I’m coming, I’ll go-- get off me, facehugger!” He was huffy, but there was a resigned tone in his voice that said that Lup was victorious, as Lup often was. 

And so Lup was able to drag a mopey Taako out onto the deck of the Starblaster… She was practically prancing, and Taako languidly followed, though it was obvious he wasn’t super-duper thrilled about being there.

But… that was okay. Lup just needed to keep him busy for a little while, that was all…

She insisted that Taako give her something to take puck shots at with firebolt. So he dug some old, now useless, coins out of his pocket from a past plane… He transmuted them into pucks for her to shoot, and with varying degrees of skill, launched them off of the ship.

Gleefully, Lup blasted each one out of the air with ease, voguing in between each shot with a cheesy grin, though Taako didn’t seem to emote much… it was okay. It’d be okay! She remained steadfast, going through increasingly dramatic stunts as she picked the discs out of the air.

One ended with her holding onto the Starblaster railing with one hand, upside down, hitting three of the targets in succession before she backflipped right back onto the deck, bowing dramatically… She took off an imaginary hat in a flourish, before bouncing back into an upright position.

And Taako _was_ smiling, clapping languidly at his sister’s performance, though the smile didn’t touch his eyes, “So-- listen, now that I’m done entertaining _you_ , I’m… I’m gonna head back in.”

Lup’s face fell, just a touch, “Oh-- I… well, I guess I did sort of ham it up a bit… You want me to make you some targets to blast?”

Taako put a hand on his hip, a brow hitched at her suggestion, “Blasting’s sort of not really my gig.”

“You wanna put _me_ on blast? Not that you really can, I mean--”

Taako rolled his eyes, “Um, _debatable_ \-- Hey, I’ve got one for you, how about that time--”

As Taako was talking, Lup was distracted by someone peeking their head out of the door down into the ship-- Lucretia was furiously motioning for her, a thumb jerking toward inside…

One last thing to do, then…

“Hey, listen, as excellent as your roasting is gonna be, I gotta… Um, Taako, I’ll be right back, okay? Give me like two, maybe three minutes?” As she spoke, she was edging past him and toward the ship door.

Taako looked reasonably dumbfounded, “Uh-- super weird, but okay. If you can’t handle the heat, you know, stay out of the kitchen-- or, uh, … _whatever_..?” 

Lup was gone before he even finished talking, so he trailed off toward the end, falling to a flat tone before nothing.

“ _Oooookay_ …” And she’d just bounced on him… and now he was standing pointlessly on the Starblaster deck. 

He sort of wondered why he’d bothered letting her drag him out here when she was just going to run off and leave him there..? Part of him considered just heading back inside and to his room, and that part of him was winning out quickly.

Taako shrugged and sauntered to head back below deck-- but just as he was about to pass the threshold, he was bumped into by someone…

Lucretia.

“ _Oops_ \-- Sorry, Taako,” she seemed flustered, a touch, and she smoothed down her robe as Taako fixed the pointed hat that now hung precariously off the side of his head. 

“No big--” Taako moved to head past her, response curt, but not unkind-- however, Lucretia did something quite out of character when he made that motion… she _stepped in his way._

Taako looked stunned for a second, and Lucretia seemed abashed, but only fleetingly.

“Taako, I was wondering… can I talk to you..?”

Taako _sighed_ , and didn’t bother to hide the disdain he felt in his heart at the idea, “M’kinda on a one way trip to casa Taako, right now, actually, at this _very_ second…”

“Just… just for a moment, I promise. I was actually looking for you… I… Well, I would like to ask you something..?” She had a notebook held in her palm, a smaller one than the silver-bound tomes she usually used to keep track of records of their journey…

Taako leaned his head back a bit, rubbing his eyes with the palms of his hands, “... Sure, yeah. Sure... okay. I guess.” 

“I really do appreciate it,” she placed a hand on his forearm, and with all the gentleness she could muster, she encouraged him to follow her back out onto the deck of the Starblaster… 

It wasn’t like he fought her, so the whole leading him along thing was kind of unnecessary… he tugged his arm away from her hand and wandered past her to the railing of the ship, where he leaned, crossing his elbows on the metal. His gaze lingered on the quickly approaching twilight that painted the skyline deep purple… though he seemed overall disinterested in it. 

In everything.

“Okay, shoot.” 

He looked quite impassive, and Lucretia felt a wave of… sorrow wash through her. There was just something about his very aura that was off. He truly didn’t want to be there, and she could feel it coming off of him in _waves._ What could be going on inside his head, she had no idea…

“Well…” Lucretia approached, stopping a couple of feet behind him, “I was… well, Taako, I was just-- I want to…” She was fumbling over her words, which happened sometimes when her nerves got to her-- she’d opened up a lot during this expedition, but situations still arose where the awkwardness bloomed inside her like a thorned plant. 

She cleared her throat, “I want to write something, Taako.”

“Isn’t that sort of what you already do?”

“Well, yes,” she paused, “but I suppose this is less academia and recordkeeping and more something personal I would like to do…”

Taako perked an ear, but he didn’t comment… so she continued.

“I want to write something about _you_.” 

“... okay..? I don’t… I mean, I don’t really follow?”

“Well, Taako, I--” she flipped the notebook open and slid a pencil from within her robe sleeve, “... I… I want the world to remember just how special you really are. I… hope that doesn’t sound too ridiculous.” It sounded ridiculous.

“Not really,” Taako commented, waving a hand, “I am pretty damn special, you feel? So, uh... So not far out of the realm of possibility, I don’t think.”

“Right, right,” she was relieved, “... It’s just… I want to write about you really in your element. I want to see what makes you tick, for who you really are. I… I want to write something that will make the world love you-- well, more than they already will, I’m sure.”

Now it finally seemed like Taako was paying attention. He turned from the horizon to face her, gaze drifting over her expression and the small notebook in her hands. 

Lucretia continued, emboldened by his sudden interest in her words, “I know this might seem a bit odd. I apologize for that, but… I… Taako, we’ve been on this journey together for so long, and we’ve all come to know each other very well, but… I feel as though we’ve been a bit at arm’s length. I know your sister very well, and it’s not as though you and I are strangers, of course, but I’d like to get to know you better. You and Lup… you’re both so very special.

“I _know_ you’re the best transmutation wizard I’ve ever met… but do you think you could show me a little of what you can do..? It’d be a good start, I think, to what I want to write…”

Taako’s gaze drifted from her face to her hands and to the notebook she held. He could see that while they were talking, she had already begun to write.

“Well, that won't do…” Taako mumbled.

He stepped closer to her, and before she had time to react, he had placed his hands on top of hers, and he closed her hands and his around the small notepad.

Lucretia looked rightfully confused, and as he released her hands, she suddenly felt a flurry of movement in her palms.

There, right where the notebook had been previously on her palms, sat a brilliant purple butterfly… Lucretia gasped, obviously shaken by its appearance.

“Taako--”

“Yeah, can’t have you writing when I haven’t shown you anything yet,” and Taako winked, stepping back just a bit as the butterfly fluttered out of Lucretia’s hands… it was caught by a gust of wind over the ship, and it was tossed hither and dither until it began to ascend. The bright purple of its wings contrasted against the rapidly approaching night.

“That's… I-- it's beautiful,” Lucretia seemed completely enamored, gaze following the fragile butterfly’s movements in the wind, “you sort of have a gift of life, huh..?”

Taako shook his head, turning to watch his creation as it struggled to stay aloft, “No, it's… more like I share a little of my own life with it, I guess.”

As Taako spoke, the butterfly was suddenly caught in a strong gust of wind, and the creature’s wings were caught in the current and… it was destroyed, completely. It ripped to shreds, and small, vibrant pieces shimmered off into the wind.

Lucretia was shocked, but Taako seemed completely unbothered… in fact, he _chuckled_ under his breath and shrugged, “que sera sera~”

And it was then that she saw it… truly felt it for the first time. She had sensed the weakening of his mental state for some time, but now she had something to show her the visible strain of his efforts to keep going.

The butterfly that had been torn apart… she saw it in his face, in his eyes, in his posture. The beautiful creature he created had been so fragile, so frail it could hardly fly, could hardly withstand the wind that rolled over the ship… it had been torn apart, and… so too was Taako, wasn't he..? 

“Taako…”

Taako… Taako was capable of such beautiful and sincere magic… Taako was so gifted, so talented, but so tired. 

“The poor thing,” Lucretia mumbled, shaking her head, “that was truly special.”

“Natch,” Taako was cheesing, just a bit, and he gave a dramatic bow with a hand at his stomach.

“Well, I think that was a pretty _good_ example, don't you..?” She drew from her robe a second notebook, and Taako regarded it and her with a look of deep concern-- how many notebooks did this woman keep on her? And _where?_

She was about to begin writing again when Taako approached, and she drew back just a tiny bit, pooching her lips, “hey, now, I don't have another spare. Don't transmute this one too.”

Taako sniggered, grabbing instead just a page of the notebook. He tore it out and held it between his fingers.

“Life's sort of like that, yeah?” He said, “Sure, I guess sometimes it's beautiful but usually it's just fleeting and kinda gone before you really get to know it. Well, uh… not _our_ lives, I guess...” 

“You're… not wrong. But, we… we’re living fleeing moments over and over again, aren't we..? It's exhausting sometimes, I know…”

Taako considered this, “... yeah.”

“But, I’ll… I'll remember that forever, you know. When I asked you to show me some magic, to show me your true self… I’ll be honest that I never expected that. But it was so perfect. It was beautiful and special and… well, it was _you_.”

He was silent… and as she spoke, his gaze drifted from a point in the distance to focus more on her.

The paper in his hand was suddenly folded into his fingers… and when he opened his hand again, there sat upon his palm another fragile, glistening purple butterfly.

“Was it..?” He considered the creature in his hand for a second, and Lucretia leaned a bit closer, a look of mixed awe and confusion on her face as she did so.

“Listen,” Taako paused, “It’s just sort of there. It’s tired. It’s kinda barely even a thing. This guy? He's not so special. He's not so me, I don't think..? Or, maybe he is, who can say. Sure, it's pretty but… definitely not my best.”

Lucretia frowned, “Well… it’s all a matter of perception, isn't it..?”

“Sure, except everything I said was true, so _fuck_ your perception just a little bit.” 

And as he spoke, he twisted his hand around the butterfly, and with a terrible crunch he crushed it in his fingers. Lucretia gasped, hand darting to cover her mouth as Taako tightened his grip and ground the magic creature into dust.

“I’m-- I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to--”

“That ain’t even close to the best I am, bet on that.” 

Taako opened his hand. And instead of the tattered remains of a crushed butterfly being revealed, a _swarm_ of butterflies burst from his grasp. They erupted forth, instantly surrounding them in twinkling, purple magic. Their wings brushed against their faces, their hands, the beating of their wings around them drowning out the dismal silence that threatened to overtake the both of them.

And Taako was _beaming_.

Lucretia gasped, opening her hands, catching the creatures on her fingers, on the sleeves of her robe… She was in awe, stars in her eyes, as they flit about the space they shared, casting their brilliant, violet glow upon the two of them.

“You… Taako… this is _spectacular_ …” Lucretia felt it… she felt something vastly different in this display… there was a warmth to the beauty of his magic that simply hadn’t been there before. These butterflies, compared to the first, were strong, they were resilient and violently bright in nature. 

Taako didn’t reply, but he did grin, nose wrinkled and tongue between his teeth… a butterfly broke loose from the swarm and landed directly on Lucretia’s nose. She giggled, closing her eyes.

He was capable of such sincere displays. He was capable of the same amount of radiant warmth as his sister, but in his own way. There was just… there was just something so inherently ethereal about the way his magic worked, about the way the magically controlled creatures danced in harmony around them. Taako was… well, she already knew he was special, but… this-- This was so incredibly poignant and telling of his true character… of the character swathed in secrecy, hidden in the layers he used to protect him from the world around him…

Lucretia would _never_ forget this...

And before long, the transmuted butterflies began to drift away a few at a time… they met the currents of air above the ship and were swept away, littering the sky in softly glowing purple twinkles that blended in with the blanket of stars in the horizon.

Taako and Lucretia simply stood with each other for a while, both regarding the sight of the glimmering purple lights of his magic drifting further and further away… 

Lucretia was shaken from her thoughts after a time by a nudge to the arm by his elbow, and when she looked at him, he was glancing from her face to the notebook in her hand, “So, like… maybe jot _that one_ down, huh?”

But before she got the chance to even try, there was a sound from behind them that roused both of their attention…

Lup stood in the doorway to below the deck of the Starblaster, and she was smiling… when Lucretia and Lup met gazes, Lup nodded in acknowledgement.

“Say, Taako-- why don’t we go inside now?” Lucretia asked, a soft smile dancing on her lips.

… Instantly, Taako was looking between the two of them shrewdly… the gears were turning, and as they did, Lup and Lucretia’s shared smile seemed to intensify.

“This was a setup.” He pointed between both of them, and Lucretia laughed.

“Come inside..?” And Lucretia took one of Taako’s hands into her own. Taako didn’t stop her, but he did seem flustered by the realization that they’d been stalling for… something.

“Get your ass in here,” Lup jerked her head toward inside, grinning like a bobcat, and Taako’s face went from stunned to just overtly frustrated.

Lucretia squeezed his hand as she led him inside… instantly, they were met with the smell of food. And lots of it. Taako narrowed his eyes, watching the two women in front of him as they headed down further below deck.

… and into the kitchen.

Where there stood every _other_ member of the I.P.R.E. And before them on their dining table was a plate of food each, plus two offerings to the side, which Taako assumed to be Lucretia and Lup…

Taako was stunned, and to be honest, looked a little uncomfortable. 

“Surprise~” Lup danced to the table, positioning herself behind one of the two dishes that hadn’t been claimed. Lucretia followed, hands folded in front of her, and stood behind the other, a small fruit tart on a silver plate.

Lucretia cleared her throat, “we… Taako, we decided you do so much of the cooking that, well… we would take the reins, so to speak, and cook you dinner instead.”

Taako’s gaze darted over all of them, over the arrangement of people who stood with varying ranges of questionable to downright dubious food items.

Magnus was holding a ramekin of… some sort of milky liquid. Merle had before him on the table what looked like… just a regular ass plate of… raw looking sausages..? Barry, who was looking quite sheepish about this whole affair, had a bowl of violently red soup steaming in front of him. Davenport was furiously stirring something in a great bowl-- something extremely lumpy and brown. Before Lup was the breast of some kind of fowl, covered in a mixture of sauces that Taako _knew_ had to be _intentionally_ horrible looking… and before Lucretia, of course, sat that innocuous looking tarte.

“You’re done with me,” Taako said flatly, “you’re going to kill me. This is like the food firing squad, isn’t it?”

“Hey, don’t knock ‘em until you try them!” Lup piped up from her side of the table.

“Absolutely not,” Taako crossed his hands in front of himself, “I’m not putting any of this in my mouth or, really, anywhere near any part of me.”

Magnus, who had been beaming when Taako entered the room, now looked a bit affronted, “Taako, we went through all this effort, the least you could do is, I dunno, give ‘em a whirl.” And he held out the ramekin of… mystery goo… toward Taako’s face.

Taako wrinkled his nose and leaned away from it, “Mags what even is this? Soup? Hell in a dish?”

“Well,” Magnus looked thoughtful, “It was originally gonna be a souffle. But I think it’s kind of the best of both worlds, like fusion food! It’s… more of a _soupffle_ …”

“That’s, uh, clever… Really good one, but definitely gonna be a _hard_ no, from me, my man.” And Taako pushed the dish away with the palm of his hand.

But Magnus persisted, leaning closer and closer, “C’mooooooonnnn. It’s gooooood. I promise!”

“Lemme just tell you that I absolutely think you’re a liar and if you don’t get that out of my face I’m gonna--”

Lup, in the background, began to rhythmically hit her hands on the table, “ _soupffle, soupffle, **soupffle, soupffle**_.”

“ _Oh God…_ ”

Magnus was bright eyed, jiggling the container before Taako’s absolutely disturbed expression… but he sighed after a moment, in defeat… he lifted a finger and, after flinching a bit, dabbed it into the concoction…

“If I die, please, listen, I’m repenting now for the sort of morally grey aspects of my life,” he seemed to be praying as he lifted the concoction to his lips and tasted it… 

It was… just sort of a mushy, runny… vaguely vanilla… goop. It wasn’t, like, the worst thing he’d ever eaten, but something about it was just so inherently _wrong_ that immediately he rejected it, but he wasn’t gonna just spit it out, so he… swallowed, a brow twitching.

“Weeeeeeeeelll~?” Magnus raised his own brow, angling his head toward him with an open hand.

“ _I’m in hell._ ” Taako vaguely commented, and he opened his mouth and let his tongue hang out in distaste.

The rest of the group was, generally speaking, _just as fuckin’ terrible._

Merle had what Taako could only refer to as ‘just some raw fuckin’ weenies on a plate.’ Barry’s violently red concoction was actually the hottest thing that Taako had ever put in his mouth-- not a flavorful, delicious kind of spice, but more like a ‘burn your tastebuds off, i’m french kissing the devil, i am literally dying’ kind of hot. Davenport had tried to make some sort of baked pudding, but it had all become a gloppy concoction of muck, and only vaguely pudding like, at that. 

Last came Lup and Lucretia…

Taako had already powered through the rest of the group, so he didn’t hesitate much when he cut off a piece of the meat-- chicken? Duck?-- that Lup had prepared and popped it into his mouth. He chewed, thoughtfully, before giving her a look, and then all of them a _look._

“So, I get it.” Taako waved his fork vaguely in each of their directions, “see, because… Lup, I know can cook. And this duck is fucking on _point_. Except you just threw some shit on here, some garbage, because you don’t _know_ how to suck. So it’s obvious. You just -- You just made me sit here and eat food you made shitty on _purpose._ ”

Lup was laughing uproariously, quivering in her seat, “Ha- haha- ahah-- Well, I- haha- I mean-- I think Magnus and Barry just kind of _suck_ , like in a completely unintentional kind of way--”

Barry looked immediately affronted, gaze darting from her to his bowl of violent red death, “... _I kinda… tried…_ ” but he was mumbling, so no one picked it up, and he scooted the bowl to the side, and out of sight behind Davenport’s horrible pudding monster.

Magnus beamed, “Yeah I _for sure suck_. No pulling any punches here!”

Taako rounded on Lucretia and her fruit tart, eyeing her hard… She waved, an innocent smile on her face as she pushed the baked good toward her companion.

There didn’t seem to be anything insidious at all about the pastry. The crust was golden brown, there was a light dusting of powdered sugar coating the top… and when Taako tasted it, it was obvious that…

She’d been following a _recipe._ A very _specific_ recipe.

He shrewdly regarded her, and at his look, she seemed to shrink into her seat, shyly looking away.

“Uh-huh. I got it. I see. So neither of you know how to _actually_ suck.” He pointed between Lup and Lucretia, “At least these other fools can pretend to suck and nail it.”

Lucretia and Lup exchanged a look, smiling at each other, before they both giggled into their hands.

Taako had his arms folded over his chest, and he leaned back in his seat and as he regarded all of them, all of the other members of their team, laughing, dunking on each other, remarking their horrible concoctions with each other…

And he realized he felt… Okay.

They had sucked and, sure, it had been torturous but… They, fuck, they did it for him, yeah..?

He had been smiling more than he had in a long time, sitting at that table, roasting all of his… friends… for giving him abominations disguised as food. And they’d accepted his dunking with grace, and they spent the next while laughing, each trying the other’s food with varying responses of disgust and delight AT said disgust…

It wasn’t so bad.

It… maybe it would be alright. 

…

After a while, time came to clean up ground zero from their horrible dinner preparations. Lup and Lucretia had taken charge of cleanup, and were the only ones left in the room besides Taako, who remained at the table, lounging, legs propped on the corner.

“So, which one of you was it?” Taako asked idly after a minute.

Both girls at the counter tensed their shoulders and shared a look, before glancing back at him in unison, and then back at each other.

Lup immediately jerked a hand up and pointed at Lucretia, “She did it.”

Lucretia widened her eyes, “Hey-- now, wait a minute, it was sort of a collaboration, I think.”

“No, yeah, no… I distinctly remember you coming up with the plan, and me just being super jonesed for it. I’m not going to steal your thunder on this one, Lucy~”

Lucretia was blushing, and she looked down into the sink, scrubbing at an already basically clean pot a little more furiously than she needed to. She wasn’t sure why she didn’t want it all to be on her, when obviously it had been at least a little successful, right..? 

Taako hummed under his breath in response before getting to his feet.

“You out?” Lup asked, glancing over her shoulder at him.

“Uh, yeah, I’m outski. Catch you fools tomorrow.” Taako sidled out of the room then, waving a hand over his shoulder at the two of them.

As soon as he was out of the room, Lup looked at Lucretia, who finally lifted her gaze from the sink.

“We _kind_ of nailed it, I think. He… he seems a lot better, I think…”

“... I know. We certainly helped, I want to believe.”

“Lucretia-- _thank you_ for this,” Lup was smiling in such a warm way that Lucretia blushed again and glanced down.

“I mean it--” Lup continued, “... I… thank you for caring so much about my brother. For wanting to help… for helping me pull it off. I appreciate that so much.”

“Oh, Lup,” Lucretia shook her head, “... I would do anything for any of you. I love you all. I… we… we’re all struggling. We have to look out for each other, because… well, no one else is going to.”

Lup reached up to put the last of the pots she’d been drying into their storage cabinet… when she was done, she reached for Lucretia and tugged her into a hug so tight that she felt like her ribs might pop out of place.

“L-Lup--”

“I know, I know-- I gotta squeeze it out~” And she laughed against her shoulder, before finally releasing her, “I’m gonna go talk to him, I think… I’ll be back, okay?”

“Sure, of course, take your time. I can finish this up, you spend some time with him.” Lucretia waved her off as she bounded out of the room…

She sighed, a content and patient sigh. This was the right thing to do, and it had went so well that she felt like _she_ could prance around the room, were she the prancing type.

But she wasn’t alone for long.

As she wrapped up the pot she’d been scrubbing, there was a voice behind her.

“So, jacking my recipes behind my back?” Taako was leaning in the doorway, arms crossed over his chest.

“Oh-- uh-- I--”

Taako shook his head, and he pushed himself up and headed into the room with her, “It was pretty good. You let the crust get a little overdone, and you needed a little more sugar. Presentation was on point, though.”

Lucretia let the air she’d caught in her chest escape-- she was worried he’d be mad about her taking his work and making it herself…

“That’s some mighty high praise,” she smiled, shrugging, “I had a good teacher.”

“I’ll give you some hands-on sometime, huh?”

Lucretia looked surprised, “Really..?”

“Sure. You’ll be the second best tart maker on this damn ship once I’m done with you.”

“I think I’d be okay with that,” and she approached, watching him as he fiddled with something inside his robe.

“Here.” Taako held out in slender fingers a folded piece of paper. A fancy piece of parchment with some sort of scrawled purple writing inside of it.

Curiously, she extended her hand to take the note… and right as she went to open it, to read the contents, it twisted and shifted in her hand violently. It surprised her so much that she dropped it-- but it didn’t fall-- instead, a single, small, white and purple butterfly fluttered in mid air in its place. The butterfly rose from where it had fallen and landed on her fingertips.

As Lucretia finally looked up from the display to express her emotions to her companion, her awe at the incredibly sweet gesture, she realized… Taako had left.

But the butterfly stayed. It shimmered on her fingertips, and as she moved to walk from the room with it, it fluttered up and landed behind her ear…

And it remained with her.

Days, weeks… months. The small butterfly had taken residence in her quarters, where it took to fluttering about while she worked, landing on her on occasion and other times remaining still on her lampshade…

But despite time passing, despite the cycles changing, it remained…

Until, two cycles later, Taako died.

It was terrible, as it always was, to lose a member of the crew so early in a cycle. Lucretia had holed herself in her room for the night, wrestling with her emotions. She sat down on her bed, and with a start, she realized that there was a piece of fancy parchment resting on her bedroom floor, hidden partially under her bed…

She took a shaky breath.

… She reached for the fragile note, and in quivering fingers she held it for much longer than she realized before she finally unfolded it, careful to not damage the paper, which was worn from transformation.

Inside the note, in perfect, loopy, bright purple handwriting was a single word.

‘ _Thanks_.’


End file.
